Sunday, December 15, 2013

Juventae Chasma Topography

Color-coded topography map of Juventae Chasma. White and red show the highest terrains, while blue and purple show the deepest.

The floor of Juventae Chasma sits some 5.8 km below the surrounding plateau. It is filled with sand in the southern part (left), which takes on a smooth appearance, in contrast to the northern (right) part of this image where many blocky rock fragments have slumped down from the chasma walls. Two large mounds of layered material sit inside Juventae Chasma and comprise minerals altered by water.

This region was imaged by the high-resolution stereo camera on ESA’s Mars Express on 4 November 2013 (orbit 12,508), with a ground resolution of 16 ms per pixel. The image center is at about 4°S / 298°E.